


favoritism

by pusa



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25820812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pusa/pseuds/pusa
Summary: Pretty, beautiful, divine. Akinori isn’t sure. He looks at Akaashi Keiji and knows, knows that he must be described by every pretty word that’s used to describe pretty people.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Konoha Akinori
Comments: 4
Kudos: 91





	favoritism

**Author's Note:**

> a commission for addie!! i hope you enjoy <3 also inspired a lot by [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxyjHZEGyNI), aphrodite by the ridleys!

Shoulder against shoulder, heads bowed together, eyes flickering across the bright screen, a single pair of earphones being shared.

Konoha Akinori spares him a glance, at Akaashi Keiji’s furrowed brows, at his focused eyes, bright and clear, at his teeth-bitten lips, shiny with water he’s been drinking. Akinori thinks he looks wonderful.

Keiji mumbles something, about the setter and a dog. Akinori furrows his brows and looks back down at the bright screen. The warm sunlight bestows upon them like some filter, making his neck heat up.

That. Or maybe it’s the slight brushing of Keiji’s hair against his. The warmth of his shoulder against his.

By his side, Akinori’s hand curls and opens up.

By his side, Keiji is warm and familiar, body leaning against his as he points at a middle blocker.

By his side, Keiji is familiar. Keiji is pretty, beautiful, divine, even when he’s sweaty, smelling too much like the school gym. Hm. Pretty, beautiful, divine. Akinori isn’t sure. He looks at Akaashi Keiji and knows, knows that he must be described by every pretty word that’s used to describe pretty people.

Slowly, Keiji tilts his head to the side and almost brushes his nose against Akinori’s. His eyes drift down to look at Keiji’s lips, just to flicker them back up to look at his eyes. Akinori feels like he’s losing in a game.

Keiji’s lips tremble for a moment, and then,

“Konoha-san?”

Akinori blinks out of his memory and turns to the person beside him.

Five years later finds Konoha Akinori at a busy café, beside manga editor Akaashi Keiji. Shoulder to shoulder. Far enough for them to not touch, but close enough for the gentle brush against another. Heads bowed down, except this time it’s to an open outline.

“Hm?”

Light glints off of Keiji’s glasses and he wrinkles his nose, nodding down at his outline again. The light from the window behind them echoes around him like some halo. Akinori feels dizzy.

Aphrodite?

“Is the character accurate?”

Akinori blinks and looks away from Keiji. Hm. It’s been five years and yet.

“Akaashi,” Akinori starts, the name still so rough yet so soft against his tongue. He feels a smile tickle his lips as he bumps their shoulders together. “I’m a pharmacist.”

Keiji wrinkles his nose again, a palm pushing up his glasses. Akinori wants to do it for him. He does, surprisingly so, when Keiji’s glasses slip down his nose again. “Is that so,” Keiji murmurs, eyes looking down at his outline.

“Yes, it seems so,” Akinori lets out a soft laugh, wants to push up Keiji’s slipping glasses again. He does. Keiji does nothing. “Your character is some mad scientist who’s making some mecha Frankenstein. Is that your image of me, Akaashi?”

Keiji stays quiet, instead glares at him, bottom lip jutting out a little. After a while, clarity washes his eyes as he nods a little, lips quirking up a little.

“Oh, my goodness,” Akinori gasps, feigning offense as he leans closer to stare at his face. “Is this what happens to my juniors? Did I not raise you well?”

“Ah, shut up,” Keiji glares at him and moves away. Akinori leans closer to him like a magnet, their shoulders brushing against each other. Keiji’s glasses slip down again. Akinori watches him, watches if he’ll push it up himself. “I shouldn’t have met up with you, then.”

“Oh, goodness,” Akinori says again, a laugh tickling his voice. “Are you pouting, Akaashi?”

He pushes Keiji’s glasses up for him. Keiji glances at him. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Hm?” Akinori bumps his shoulder against his. “Do what?”

Keiji narrows his eyes at him, crinkling his nose and plays with the ends of his outline. Akinori glances down at it and smiles at the justified text and detailed information. “Why did you even ask to meet up, Akaashi? You have all the information already.”

Akinori watches, slow and steady, the gentle coloring of soft red on Keiji’s cheeks as he fumbles to push up his glasses again. Akinori watches as it slips down again and he pushes it back up for him, fingers softly grazing the bridge of Keiji’s nose. It seems too close now, too intimate, to be doing this at a café.

Hm.

Doing what?

“That,” Keiji whispers, glancing at him quickly before glancing down at his outline. “My glasses.”

Oh.

Oh. Akinori looks at Keiji and feels like he’s seventeen again.

Akinori wonders. Leans a bit closer. Smiles when Keiji’s glasses slip down again.

Keiji looks at him, stares at him if he’ll do anything. Akinori smiles at him, bumps his shoulder against his. He runs his hand against the outline. “Yes, Akaashi? I’m gonna read your character info sheet.”

“Ah,” Keiji pushes his glasses up with his palm. “So, you weren’t listening to me, earlier, Konoha-san?”

“Shh, shh,” Akinori says childishly, bringing the outline up to his face and trying to read. He hears Keiji huff and then sigh beside him, relaxing against the chair, shoulder bumping against his. Akinori looks away from the outline to glance sideways at Keiji. His eyes barely graze over the **CHARACTER SHEET** before his eyes drift over to Keiji again. He’s quiet now, staring down at his fingers, playing with each other before they wander up to the table and take his phone.

Akaashi Keiji’s fingers had always been slender, pretty.

As Akinori stares at him, it’s almost like a bubble, how the memory drifts to him.

Here is: Konoha Akinori, the last few weeks before graduation. Akaashi Keiji, standing in front of him, right after practice, staring at the large expense of the gym.

“Akaashi,” he says suddenly and comes closer to him, an arm thrown against Keiji’s shoulders. “What’s got you so quiet? What’d Bokuto tell you?”

Keiji smiles and looks at him weirdly. He’s been doing that a lot—smiling, smiling a bit big, letting his laugh shine through, a hand no longer covering his mouth. “Nothing, Konoha-san,” he says politely like he always does. “Bokuto-san was just being his usual self.”

Here is: Konoha Akinori. Just another boy, looking at another boy. He wants to find the words inside of him, to say something. (Say what?) To say, _hey, akaashi. keiji. what’s it like to love you?_

(Akinori knows what it’s like. Akinori knows. Wants to ask instead _hey, keiji. when will you realize that I want you to be—_ )

“Konoha-san?” Keiji looks at him with a smile and steps a little closer to him. “Are you getting lazy to shower?”

“Ah, Akaashi!” Akinori laughs, pulling him closer and begins to walk towards the shower rooms, the gentle laughter of Keiji echoing in his ears. “You’re getting a little brave lately! Do I not smell good enough for you?”

Keiji makes a show of sniffing like he’s sick. “Would you like me to be honest?”

Akinori laughs and just pulls him closer, tries to remember the feeling of Keiji’s warm body against his.

Here is: Konoha Akinori, twenty-four years old, pharmacist, shoulder bumping shoulder with Akaashi Keiji, twenty-two years old, manga editor, and it’s still—Akinori feels like he’s still making a fool of himself, just to make Keiji laugh.

His eyes skim over the info sheet again, when Keiji makes a small noise, and his eyes move towards Akinori’s. His ears are a soft red. Akinori smiles and focuses again on the outline.

It’s simple, a small sentence that could be easily missed— _had_ been easily missed. Akinori can almost see it in Keiji’s handwriting. In the middle of the huge block of text for **CHARACTER INFO** , says:

 _Dr. Hako is close with one of his old high school friends, a manga editor. The manga editor (to be named) is shown to be important to Dr. Hako in the next chapters_.

“Hm,” Akinori smiles, like it’s a secret, giddiness filling his chest.

“Konoha-san?”

Akinori turns to him with a grin, warmth on his cheeks. Keiji’s glasses slip down. Akinori’s hand, tender, a little shaky, comes up and pushes it up for him.

**Author's Note:**

> my [twt](https://twitter.com/bokkuns) <3


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